When I started this blog two years ago it was to describe my horse Miles’ journey from being shoed on his front hooves to going barefoot. That was an exciting and wonderful time. I was grounded, had (and have) a good farrier who believed in us (as opposed to two vets and one other farrier who insisted he was too flat-footed) and we moved forward consistently with mostly an occasional hoof getting a bit chipped up and one hair crack on the right front that comes and goes.
This summer became, unfortunately, a horse of a different color, so to speak. I had taken Miles’ barefoot victory for granted. To make matters worse, I had suffered a recent sudden loss of my dear husband, so was not nearly as attuned to Miles and his feet as I had been.
Let me describe the saga — one afternoon a barn staff member said Miles seemed a bit footsore coming in from the pasture. The path from pasture to barn is rocky, so that did not take me completely by surprise. Miles has sensitive soles, so I began adding Venice Turp to our routine, every other day (we always use Tuff Stuff on the edge of the hooves every other day). A week or so later, his front left hoof chipped up. The ground was hard. The flies were vicious. Even though he was wearing Defy the Fly Legbands (pictured) his feet were under attack. I bravely rasped and sandpapered gently to get the rough edges off and waited until his six-week trim.
I had ridden Miles the day before his trim and brilliantly (I thought) gave him some Buteless pellets in case his soles were sensitive. So we had a good ride, but at an unfortunate price. When I brought him out for the farrier, he could see at once that Miles was favoring the left front foot. “Didn’t you see that?” he said to me. When he saw how short the toe was, he was very unhappy. “That’s it,” he said. “We’re back to square one. We’ll have to put him in shoes.” My heart sunk. I gathered up my courage and reminded him that previously Miles had thrown regular shoes right and left and that process had torn up the sides of his hooves. “Well then, he said after a minute, “put him in his (Cavallo simple) boots.” A lightbulb went on. They had been sitting in their box on a shelf in the garage at home (Miles’ other locker). I brought them in and staff began putting them on before turn-out. I took them off after he came in, washed the gel inserts and wiped them out.
This worked surprisingly well. These boots are very well-made and sturdy. Miles did throw them on occasion — once while galloping out first thing in the morning, other times when the mud sucked one or both out. I was riding him in the boots as well, and quickly discovered he was not wild about that idea, as the left boot had a little too much room.
But something else was going on that puzzled me. He was telling me that his feet were still not completely happy. As we had been spending more time eyeball-to-eyeball hand grazing out toward the eventing grounds in the back field (also very good for a grieving heart) I had no doubt that something wasn’t quite right.
Another lightbulb went on. For just how many consecutive days had he been wearing the boots at turnout? A few weeks at least, by this time. Just what was happening to his soles? Without hesitation I asked staff to keep the boots off when the ground was soft. I then emailed Cavallo and yes, they agreed with me that hooves could soften with daily usage. I called the farrier and explained my concern to him and he agreed that we should just ‘play it by ear’ until his next trim. So, for the last few weeks Miles went without boots about half of the time. His feet looked marvelous to my untrained eye. But the real test came this morning at his trim. “How much am I going to have to cut off today?” he asked? I grimaced. “You’ll have to tell me. I don’t know.” The implication was that his feet don’t grow very fast. Great, I thought.
Of all days (it was a gorgeous morning) Miles decided to go into TB mode in his stall by the time I arrived, pacing around with his ‘get me OUT of here attitude’. Three other horses were being trimmed before him. He needed to eat some hay and be grained. I stayed away from his stall as, when I am anxious, he picks up on that, and, of course, thinks that if he stares me down long enough I’ll take him out and lunge him in the round pen. I did my best to ignore him.
But, as a result, during the trim he was uncharacteristically pushy and the farrier had to ‘correct’ him a few times. My heart sank. I waited for another chastising from the farrier, but after Miles’ front feet were trimmed (pictured) he looked at me and said, “You did well. His feet are cold. They look good. Keep doing what you’re doing.” A huge sigh of relief. I thanked staff for their help. Hopefully we are off to a fresh start. No boots today to let his feet dry. Rain tonight and tomorrow and some of next week, so he will be barefoot for the most part once again (though the boots will still come into play as needed).
So we learn from our mistakes, and I have certainly learned from this one. I have managed to bond more closely with my awesome horse (my best friend anyhow) and we are on track for a new start for both of us…:-)
(Miles is in the middle…)
Hooves R Us 